Happy Birthday Justin...I am SO proud of you!!

Today I realized I don’t have any more babies.  All 3 boys are now double digits…this year Nick turns 13, Joe 12, and today Justin turned 10.  Definitely a bitter sweet day for me. This might sound crazy to most of you, but even at my age, given the opportunity and a much larger income, I would love to have another child.  The joy they bring is like no other…unless of course they aren’t doing their homework.

Justin had a wonderful birthday.  We had a special birthday dinner for him Sunday since Joe had theatre this evening.  He loved the gifts from his brothers.  Tonight we celebrated by taking him out for dessert and giving him a gift from TJ and I.  Saturday he will have a couple of his friends over to hang out and swim with.

Today that sweet boy had a second shot at his orange belt for karate.  He tested Saturday but failed because he came out of his Naihanchi which results in an automatic fail.  Since everything else he did was done correctly his Sansei allowed him to give his Naihanchi another shot.  This time he had to stay in that position for 2 ½ minutes.  Imagine standing in a mid-level squat position for 2 ½ minutes…OUCH!

Well he did it!  What an awesome birthday gift!  He held that position and received his orange belt today.  He is so excited and we are so proud of him.  I am most proud of the fact that he did not give up.  He was so upset and disappointed when he was told he failed Saturday.  He never once said he didn’t want to do this anymore or ask to quit.  He did cry…he had a tough time containing himself (he gets that from me) but he didn’t let it ruin his day.

With all these birthday celebrations for Justin, and another coming up on Saturday, I am proud that I have not strayed from my clean eating one bit.  I feel good about that and excited to have the ability to resist once again.

It looks like I will be doing another half marathon in December.  We are rallying the troops!  We have a few people from the Boot Camp at my house participating and I think we may have a group from work as well. 

When I was training last year for it I did great…I was on top of my game like I never was before…workouts, eating, being consistent, running, it was awesome.  Then I caught MS…well so the doctor thought.  It was just my back…I will need to make sure my running form is correct and my running is efficient. 

I’m SO excited about this!